What Damages Can You Recover from a Rochester Car Crash?

When a Rochester car accident impacts your life, you deserve a law firm that understands the effect it has on you and your family. At Horn Wright, LLP, we make sure losses caused by the crash, from medical costs to pain and suffering, are aggressively pursued in your case. Our attorneys focus on maximizing your compensation, so you can concentrate on moving forward with your life.

If you’ve suffered injuries in a car accident you need to know what compensation you’re entitled to. Damages in a car accident case fall into two main categories: economic and non-economic losses. Each category includes specific types of losses that can support your claim.

Economic Damages: Your Financial Losses from the Accident

Economic damages, sometimes called “special damages,” cover financial losses that stem directly from the accident. These costs are usually straightforward to calculate because you can point to bills, receipts, or other records for the exact totals. In a Rochester personal injury case, you would total your medical expenses, lost ages, and property damage expenses as the basis for your economic losses.

Medical Expenses

The speed at which medical expenses can add up after an accident can be shocking. Treatments for emergency room care, surgeries, physical therapy, medication, and follow-up visits quickly add up. At Rochester hospitals like Strong Memorial and Rochester General they have experienced intake personnel that will know to ask you for your No-Fault claim information instead of sending bills to your private health insurance.

Don’t look solely at the bills from your ER visit to compile your medical expenses for the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Include bills for any treatments you had for injuries related to the car accident, including:

• Emergency treatment: If you needed an ambulance or emergency room care after the crash, those expenses count toward your claim.
• Surgeries and hospital stays: Gather any bills for post-operative care or overnight stays recovering from a surgery.
• Ongoing treatment: Physical therapy, chiropractic care, or pain management can last for months and add up to significant amounts overall.
• Medical equipment and supplies: Items like crutches, braces, or pain patches can also up to high numbers. Include any expenses you paid for co-pays as well.

Your No-Fault benefits will cover your medical expenses, along with lost wages and other expenses, up to a combined total of at least $50,000. When those expenses exceed that amount you can pursue recovery directly against the at-fault driver in a personal injury lawsuit.

Lost Wages

If you miss time from work because of your injuries you need to track your lost wages. Lost wages include losses of your regular income from being out of work, but also includes any overtime, bonuses, or other earnings you would have received. Regardless if you work full-time, part-time, or even freelance—if you couldn’t work because of injuries from the car accident you can still assert a claim for these losses. 

Another claim related to lost wages is diminished earnings capacity. This claims losses for your future inability to work if injuries are reasonably certain to limit your ability in the long term. A serious back injury might cause you to lose two months of work initially, but if that prevents you from working half of your normal hours permanently you could assert a claim for diminished earnings capacity.

Property Damage

Property damage includes the costs to repair or replace your vehicle. After an accident, an insurance adjuster from either your insurance company or the other driver’s insurance company will assess the damage to your car and provide an estimate of the damage. You should make your own list to document every repair and any items inside your vehicle that were also damaged, like a iPad or Kindle reader.

Non-Economic Damages: The Physical and Emotional Toll

Non-economic damages address the more personal, intangible losses after a car accident that impact your life. Non-economic losses don’t have a specific dollar amount attached to them, and are designed to compensate you for the physical pain and emotional distress caused by your injuries. Courts, attorneys, juries, and insurance companies use various methods to calculate these losses and at times it can be more of an art than a science. Calculating non-economic losses is specific to the person and take into account the severity of the injury, length of treatments, and the ongoing effects to your daily life.

Pain and Suffering

“Pain and suffering” reflects the physical pain and emotional hardship that injuries cause, and what most people think of first when they hear about a personal injury case. Unlike medical expenses or lost wages, pain and suffering doesn’t come with receipts, but these damages are still the most meaningful. In a Rochester personal injury case, a Monroe County Supreme Court jury would hear testimony from a Plaintiff describing the intensity of the pain, the duration of the suffering, and how it affects their quality of life. That information is then used by a jury to award damages for pain and suffering.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life

When injuries prevent you from doing things you once enjoyed in life, you can claim “loss of enjoyment of life” as an element of your non-economic damages from a car accident. If a physical injury restricts your ability to play sports, travel, or even go for a walk in Rochester’s Highland Park, it affects your quality of life. The law recognizes that these losses, while hard to quantify, represent real harm that should be compensated by a negligent driver. Taking the time to document all the changes in your lifestyle and how you feel on an ongoing basis will help substantiate loss of enjoyment of life claims to a jury.

Loss of Consortium

If your injuries disrupt your relationship with a spouse, your spouse will be able to assert a claim for loss of consortium. This term refers to the loss of companionship, physical intimacy, or support you provided to your spouse or family members before the accident. While this type of claim requires close relationships and may involve discussing sensitive issues, it acknowledges just how much of an impact personal injuries can have within a household.

Punitive Damages: Deterring Reckless Conduct

In very rare cases, a Monroe County Supreme Court might award punitive damages to punish the other driver if their actions in causing your injury were extreme and reckless. Unlike compensatory damages, punitive damages aren’t designed to cover the losses you sustained. Instead, punitive damages aim to penalize wrongful actions. 

Again, Monroe County Supreme Court judges and juries rarely award punitive damages, as they really only apply only if the other driver acted with blatant disregard like driving under the influence. Punitive damages can increase the total value of your case significantly given they’re designed to punish rather than compensate.

How Do You Calculate Your Damages After a Rochester Car Accident?

Calculating your damages after a car accident isn't as straightforward as it might seem.  The first place to start is by totaling your economic losses for medical expenses, lost wages, and any future expenses in either category. This is typically where the expertise of an expert is required to be able to accurately calculate the exact projected costs.

You'll next need to look at the respective liability of the parties involved. Car accident cases in Rochester abide by New York’s comparative negligence rule, which means each driver’s percentage of fault will offset the total amount of compensation they receive, if any.  If you sustained $100,000 in economic losses, but a court determined you were 40% at fault for the crash, your recovery would be limited to $60,000.

After economic losses have been calculated you'll turn next to non-economic losses like pain and suffering. Calculating pain and suffering can be subjective, but attorneys and insurance companies will start by looking at prior jury verdicts to see what a jury would do when presented with similar facts. Jury verdicts are only guidance, since the facts of each case are quite different.

How Does an Attorney Help with My Damages in a Rochester Car Accident Claim?

Hiring a personal injury attorney who handles Rochester car accident cases will make all the difference in the world in the results you get. A Rochester personal injury lawyer will know immediately where to begin gathering evidence, such as police reports, medical records, and hiring local investigators who can photograph and document the scene immediately after your crash.

A car accident lawyer will negotiate with the at-fault driver’s insurance company for you so you don’t have to speak with them directly. This is extremely valuable because an experienced attorney will be able to argue on your behalf regarding calculations and estimates of what your economic and non-economic losses are.

Maximizing Your Recovery With a Rochester Law Firm

After a Rochester car accident understanding and documenting your losses, from medical bills, to lost wages, and pain and suffering—will determine the amount of your recovery. The Rochester lawyers at Horn Wright, LLP, have extensive experience advocating for car accident victims in, and know what it takes to build a case to show the full extent of your damages. Work with our team to fight for every dollar you’re entitled to. Within minutes you can be speaking with a car accident lawyer at Horn Wright, LLP. Call now.